Theatre in Review: The Illusionists: Live on Broadway (Neil Simon Theatre)For the second holiday season, Broadway is hosting this package of magic acts. Both a varied lot and a mixed bag, The Illusionists opens a window on how different artists approach their craft in the post-Siegfried and Roy world. Each of the artists is given a tag, as if they were members of the X-Men. They include James More, aka The Deceptionist, who kicks off the evening by seemingly impaling himself on an object that looks like both a giant memo holder and the top of the Empire State Building. Jeff Hobson, who looks like Neil Patrick Harris if he grew up to be Liberace, works the room in flamboyantly patterned tuxes, dropping gleefully bad jokes and bringing hapless audience members on stage to take part in his card tricks and mind reading exercise. Dan Sperry, who resembles a Marilyn Manson impersonator, pulls off the classic bit involving swallowing razor blades and pulling them out of his mouth, attached to a thread. Raymond Crowe, who is short, energetic, and British, works ventriloquism into his act. Yu Ho-Jin, a young Korean who last year was named Magician of the Year by the Academy of Magical Arts, projects an enigmatic presence as he does transformative things with cards. Adam Trent, who projects a cheerful frat-boy persona, does something indescribable with a cellphone, a knife, a blender and a honeydew melon; he also pulls of an especially nifty trick with a video wall. Jonathan Goodwin generates real suspense by standing his wife next to smallish balloon, then attempts to shoot the balloon with a crossbow while blindfolded. A pin didn't drop in the Neil Simon on the night I attended, because I would surely have heard it. Funnily enough, I found the more intimate acts -- those involving card tricks and mentalism -- to be more amusing than the more obviously daring illusions, partly because the latter are much harder to believe in and partly because Hobson and Trent are such confident entertainers. I suspect, however, that individual results may vary, and you might find others to be more to your liking. In any case, the kids in the audience seemed generally entranced by everything. The production, directed by Neil Dorward, is more than a little overproduced with insistent music by Evan Jolly and Eddie Cole and Dustin Moore and silly choreography by Jenn Rapp. But Jared A. Sayeg's lighting is amusingly theatrical without becoming overbearing and Angela Aaron's costumes just right. The video design by NICE Studios is crucial to the success of several acts; without it, several acts wouldn't work at all in a theatre the size of the Neil Simon. Fun without being sensational, The Illusionists: Live on Broadway may be the solution to the question of where to take the kids during the holidays, particularly if they have already partaken of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular; the adults in the crowd should be amused as well. --David Barbour 
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